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Finding and restoring an old PC

RoeRoe Always to the EastRegistered User regular
I'm trying to find a working Gateway Performance 600 PC from the year 2000. I'm looking to retrofit this tower so I can play old games on it.

The PC is a gaming tower that I used to own a long time ago. A Youtube video about a man creating a Gaming desktop from old hardware caught my eye and I've been looking to restore my old PC since.

I've checked Ebay and Google but couldn't find what I was looking for. If anyone could help me find a good site to buy this PC again, I would much appreciate it.

oHw5R0V.jpg
Roe on

Posts

  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    You're unlikely to find many that are 100% in working order.

    Have you considered DosBox as an alternative? A lot of ye olde games have dosbox profiles that will get them working properly and without all the janky problems with the mouse or other things.

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    DOSBox is great, but there is something to be said for having an actual DOS box to play your old games on.

    If you're looking for a build from a specific era in my experience it's a lot easier tracking down a laptop than a desktop. You wouldn't have the case and guts you are nostalgic for, but it would take up significantly less space in your house and would be significantly cheaper to ship compared to a full size ATX case made out of steel. The only major downsides to laptops from older eras are screen quality, lack of upgradeability, and if the hard drive has been wiped it can be difficult finding laptop specific drivers from some manufacturers.

    If you're dead set on a specific desktop model but can't find it on ebay you might have some luck on craigslist. I once met an old ex-microsoft employee there who had a basement literally filled with computers who ended up giving me some old machines for free just so he could clear out some space. Outside of that it might just require keeping and eye out and getting lucky.

  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited February 2018
    Roe wrote: »
    I'm trying to find a working Gateway Performance 600 PC from the year 2000. I'm looking to retrofit this tower so I can play old games on it.

    The PC is a gaming tower that I used to own a long time ago. A Youtube video about a man creating a Gaming desktop from old hardware caught my eye and I've been looking to restore my old PC since.

    I've checked Ebay and Google but couldn't find what I was looking for. If anyone could help me find a good site to buy this PC again, I would much appreciate it.

    Metal Jesus had a good video on buying a new old PC, complete with info on the firm he used:

    https://youtu.be/wktwFaCA3Jg

    Edit: For laptops, the 8 Bit Guy did an excellent primer:

    https://youtu.be/k2v7k-wAm2E

    Lazy Game Reviews also has good info as well:

    https://youtu.be/9CgisEFObjA

    AngelHedgie on
    XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
  • ButtcleftButtcleft Registered User regular
    God fucking damnit, @AngelHedgie 's post bit me..

    Someone suck this poison out before I go track down some geriatric PCs and relive days gone by.

  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    edited February 2018
    Buttcleft wrote: »
    God fucking damnit, AngelHedgie 's post bit me..

    Someone suck this poison out before I go track down some geriatric PCs and relive days gone by.

    Clint's LGR channel is super interesting if you're an old-timer. You'll have so many memories dredged up it might be a bit worrisome.

    jungleroomx on
  • LD50LD50 Registered User regular
    Buttcleft wrote: »
    God fucking damnit, @AngelHedgie 's post bit me..

    Someone suck this poison out before I go track down some geriatric PCs and relive days gone by.

    This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.

  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    Buttcleft wrote: »
    God fucking damnit, @AngelHedgie 's post bit me..

    Someone suck this poison out before I go track down some geriatric PCs and relive days gone by.

    You have run out of conventional memory, try removing some TSR programs from your autoexec.bat file.

    SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6

    D:/> does not exist, Abort, Retry, Fail?

  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    Did fail ever do anything really

  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    Fucking IRQ exceptions between the joystick and soundcard. Bane of my existence. Also the stack of boot disks, one for each game.

    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • NEO|PhyteNEO|Phyte They follow the stars, bound together. Strands in a braid till the end.Registered User regular
    What, not making a single disk with a boot menu that swaps in the appropriate config? Mediocre.

    It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing... And take away its pain.
    Warframe/Steam: NFyt
  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    Pah, boot menu off the hard drive. Strike Commander always demanded its own entry.

    Now I can't remember if I had my soundcard on IRQ 5 or 7. Dammit.

  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    Did fail ever do anything really

    Abort meant stop the operation due to something specific failing. Retry meant retry the operation to see if that specific thing would not fail the second time. Fail meant to keep the operation going even though one specific thing failed in case there was anything else that the operation was supposed to do.

    On a side note, I am so glad we don't have to deal with IRQs anymore. Or DIP switches.

  • FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    edited March 2018
    Did fail ever do anything really

    Abort meant stop the operation due to something specific failing. Retry meant retry the operation to see if that specific thing would not fail the second time. Fail meant to keep the operation going even though one specific thing failed in case there was anything else that the operation was supposed to do.

    On a side note, I am so glad we don't have to deal with IRQs anymore. Or DIP switches.

    Yes, this... though since we're being all academic and historical and shit, I'll add some trivia:

    "Fail" sent an error code back to the running program, but it was up to the programmer to decide how to handle the error (or even whether to handle it). So, yeah, "fail" often sent an error code back to a program that didn't have decent error handling in the first place, which is why it often felt like it did nothing.

    Feral on
    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
  • KrathoonKrathoon Registered User regular
    edited September 2018
    PC Gamer demo discs were the shit.

    Krathoon on
  • KrathoonKrathoon Registered User regular
    I need to get Brain Dead 13 for DOS.

  • KrathoonKrathoon Registered User regular
    Giant Bomb has a playthrough of Bioforge which is great.

  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    Bioforge was awesome.

  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    Krathoon wrote: »
    PC Gamer demo discs were the shit.

    Going down that elevator into hell a weird PC lounge? Good times.

    The magazines were pretty good too.

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